Hello to all the readers of Playboy -- you folks obviously do read it for the articles.

Yep, In Passing got a one-line mention in the "Living Online" section on page 32 of the July issue. I wonder if they knew that I once considered "short attention span voyeurism" as a tagline for this site...

Many thanks to reader Scott for cluing me in, and to the clerk at Tower for being so amusingly confused when I went to buy the issue. (The story of the latter is in the comments, for the curious.)

So, it's time for the Bloggies again. No, not the Webbies, the internet-wide award ceremony I worked at over the summer. The bloggies are just for weblogs, and a much smaller affair. No awards show, no glossy magazine and flashy after party, just people voting online for sites that they like, and the winners posted on a web page.
The definition of weblog has always been fuzzy -- some say it's a site that logs other sites on the web with copious links, others say it's a site that logs the life of the person running it. I'm sure there's a trillion other definitions, but I've come to accept that In Passing fits into the defintion of "weblog." Somewhere.
There is a lot of talent in the weblog community, and it would be an honor if In Passing was nominated alongside all those other sites I respect.
That said, yeah, I'm asking you guys to vote for me. Don't worry, I do feel plenty sheepish and silly about it, but not so sheepish and silly that I'm not willing to ask. If you enjoy In Passing and think the site and the community of folks who visit it deserve a little recognition, you can nominate it for a Bloggie award here. I think "Best Topical Weblog" is probably the category where In Passing fits best.

And as long as I'm making reccomendations, I'd like to throw out a few other sites I admire.

Best non-weblog content: Crushing Krisis and the weekly song trios there.
Best programming of a weblog: Fury and Linkstew.
Best American weblog: Wockerjabby.
Best Canadian weblog: Succaland.

There are many other sites I enjoy that deserve recognition, but for now I'm going to bed. I'm guessing the clever readers of this site will use the comments for this post to suggest other websites worthy of nominations. Happy voting, and thanks.

Hello to all the readers of the San Jose Mercury News! A columnist for that newspaper, Dennis Rockstroh, interviewed me last week and the article went into print today. It's also availible here, on the newspaper website.

Another unrelated news item, there's a new link on the sidebar, "Donate." I finally got around to making the long-discussed tip jar, so that if people like, they can help me offset the costs of hosting this site. Much more info about that if you follow the link.

Newsflash, minor change -- the archiving system got a whole lot prettier thanks to code from Benjy of Linkstew. You can peruse all the old entries by month, instead of by page. Not terribly exciting, but very useful.

We are not alone.

That's the overwhelming message being presented through photographs of the world mouring, on this thread. Keep clicking next page (not next thread) to go through all 19 pages, there are a lot of pictures there, and a lot of support. The outpouring of emotion for friends and strangers is beautiful.

There are all kinds of mourning ceremonies today; at 10am PST there will be a moment of silence. At 7pm (don't know what time zone) there will be a nationwide candlelighting. Participate as you like.

I wanted to post new material today, but I just couldn't. It seems disrespectful... I suppose this is survivor guilt for someone thousands of miles away. As much as I recognize that a lot of people could use a diversion right now, I feel like it's just too soon. My friends and I tried going to a movie tonight, to take our minds off everything.

Somewhere on the top ten list of signs that you're emotionally unwell is crying at the movie American Pie 2.

Yeah.

In the meantime, if you would like a diversion, I reccommend the archives here, or something simple and funny, like the Brunching site. Grocery store humor is safe. Ha, ha, Alanis Morissette sure has lyrics that are easily mocked.

Normally I find that site pretty funny... I guess I'm not very good at being distracted.

Hang in there, folks. May tomorrow be better than today was

So I have a project for you all.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm on the volunteer staff for the Webby Awards, which are the internet equivalent of the Academy Awards and are being held at the Opera house in San Francisco.

My job? I'm on the team that makes the guests feel special while they're walking along the red carpet. We're like paparazzi with polaroid (or digital) cameras, we hand out party favors, etc. Some of the party favors are the little red decorated envelopes that they put money and fun stuff in for Chinese New Year. Well, we're supposed to fill them with "fun, interesting, unusual messages." Like oddball fortune cookies.

And I thought, who better to come up with the bizarre than the folks who have seen it all?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: submit a comment to this thread containing a fortune like or just utterly random message. (And you should post nothing but that message, since I'm just going to print these out directly. Also means your name + email will be attached if you choose to enter them in.)

Ever want to tell something to the internet's A-Listers? Tell a story, give advice, write a review of your favorite website or rock band, or attempt to read the future of the person who will get the message. If you've never posted before, there's a first time for everything. This is a chance to send your words out into the world (and save me the trouble of thinking up things for myself.)

It's a race for the first 50 posts (since I only have 50 envelopes,) and the only rules are keep it clean and don't be mean (since I will be giving these out to unsuspecting innocents.) Funny is good.

On your marks, get set... go!

"Kaycee" was a hoax.

I know this isn't anything new to a lot of people; when I originally found out about it a few weeks back, I didn't think it deserved a news item, so I just directed all conversation about the issue to the entry I'd posted about her death.

However, as the mainstream media is picking up the story, I'm getting more and more emails from kind readers trying to break the news to me gently. And while I appreciate the mail, I thought I'd just mention it here so everybody knows, and knows that I know.

My thoughts on the end of the Kaycee affair are here.

Jon Carroll, a columnist for the SF Chronicle, wrote an excellent piece yesterday about the whole debacle. I agreed with a lot of his views, and I really liked what he had to say about the media and fiction, about belief and what "meaningful" really is.

I should be studying for my final this afternoon, but instead I'm updating the page. (Story of my life lately.)
This is a good newsflash though -- a while back I did an interview with the Daily Cal, which is the campus newspaper, and today it made it to press. Check it out here. Hello to all the Cal readers!

So, I got word tonight that a comment I made at DSR inspired someone. Which just goes to show that one person's bad idea is another person's nifty web project. Search Engine Therapy -- now you can do more than search to see if that blind date has a scary home page, or is wanted in several states. You can get counseling once the date is through.

---

**Note** In Passing dot org takes no responsibility for the quality of therapy provided by Google, a company that appears to be having some identity issues of its own.